Aidan Milford

When I joined Dine Craiglockhart, it had amazing potential, however suffered from having the wrong team at the helm upon its opening in October 2023. When I joined we had an uphill battle to rebuild the reputation in the local community that it was apart of.

Originally joining as a Supervisor, not wanting too much responsibility, I couldn't help but care intensely about the place I worked. After the previous general manager left, I was quickly promoted after only working there for a few months. Much like my last job, I lacked experience in management, but was trusted based on my attitude and ability to learn on the job. Through forming connections with my team and trying my best every day, we built the establishment into a local gem. One of my closest regulars started off as someone who was disgruntled with the restaurants existence, as it replaced a pub he much preferred. Through kindness, social skills and warmth, he became proud to call our restaurant his local. He, and many others made me proud of what we achieved.

I chose to leave as I started to get comfortable in the position and my time in Edinburgh has taught me that discomfort is where I do my most intense development.

Working here seemed impossible at first. Previous to this I had no fine dining experience. Although I tried to learn as much as I could from previous restaurants, nothing could have prepared me for the jump in standards that this Michelin Star restaurant had. They hired me based of personality and potential to develop, as the skills I had at first were sub par. Throughout a year of intense development, difficult conversations, long hours and shifts, I proved to myself how far drive can get you. The environment almost seemed hostile to me at first due to how out of place I felt, in an already well established and highly competent team. However, by the time I chose to leave, I had become a skilled, trusted and relied upon member of the team, forming strong connections I still have today. The intense training formed me into somebody with extremely thick skin and skills to back up my determination.

Working at this establishment provided me with insight and a mentality that added to my usefulness as a worker. I worked very closely with the owner and supervisors at times, which broadened my understanding of what makes a restaurant work and what standards need to be met in every sector. I often tried to make the work environment better by keeping a healthy line of communication between the chefs, supervisor and fellow front of house employees, but I also learned when to keep myself to my tasks and not take on any exterior stress. I further proved my malleability at times of need, where occasionally I would do shifts as a Kitchen Porter, when people were unable, on one occasion doing both jobs simultaneously.

My boss here taught me the value of "looking after" customers, providing me with a rewarding experience when people who enjoyed their time returned and remembered me.

Blue Arrow presented me with this job in the summer of 2021. By this time I had established myself as a valuable worker for my agency and was trusted to be deployed into an environment that I was new to and learn on the job. This was extremely valuable to me as it taught me domestic skills I did not own beforehand and much like my hospital work, tested my durability as I chose to work extra hours each day. I worked here for a few weeks.

Working here for a good portion of the summer in 2019, I got into a routine of working daily shifts, cleaning, preparing food and trying to match the level of standard that was set by the regular workers. As this was another agency job where I had no previous experience, this was proven to be a big challenge. This job taught me durability and malleability under stress and fatigue.

I was apart of a Blue Arrow agency team hired for one of the many events going on at the stadium. Doing my first shift in the summer of 2019, I returned a few times, finding the team environment useful to better my value as a worker. Furthermore some events had guests with expensive clothing and standards, which helped me learn to work under stress. This job also presented a fast passed environment that I learned to thrive under.

• I did work experience creating written and video content for their media department. At the young age of fifteen it was very valuable to work in a typical office environment while gaining a greater understanding of the charity sector.